1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and an image processing program for distributing image data accumulated by a digital copier, facsimile apparatus, scanner, or the like to an external apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2000-333026, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2001-150744, and so on, for example, disclose a so-called network scanner technique for connecting a digital copier or image reading apparatus to a network, scanning an original image using a scanner of the digital copier or image reading apparatus, and distributing the read image data to another terminal connected to the network such as a computer.
A copying technique is also known for connecting a digital copier or image reading apparatus to a network, scanning an original image using a scanner of the digital copier or image reading apparatus, printing the read image data from a printer unit, and outputting the image on a sheet of paper.
However, in this conventional network scanner technique, image data subjected to image processing by an image processing unit of an image processing apparatus are compressed in order to increase the transfer speed at which the image data are distributed to an external client apparatus by the digital copier or other apparatus. If the image data are compressed in a format from which they can be expanded by the external client apparatus which receives the image data, no problem occurs, but when the image data are distributed to a plurality of external client apparatuses, the data must be re-scanned so that they can be compressed in a format enabling expansion by each of the plurality of external client apparatuses.
Meanwhile, in the conventional copying technique, the image processing performed by the image processing unit is performed according to a specific method for each company. As a result, the image data are set in a specific printing format, and are therefore unsuitable for distribution to an external client apparatus as in the network scanner technique described above. Even if the image data were distributed to an external client apparatus, the image data would remain in a specific format for printing output, and could not therefore be viewed, edited, or otherwise processed on the external client apparatus.